You may not know this off the bat, due to my normal Druidic (is that a word? -Ed) slant, but I also play a 70 Beast Mastery hunter. He was actually my first 70, but due to a lack of healers in guild I picked up the Druid, and he’s been my main ever since.

Anyhow, since my post about Druid Casual Gear in 2.4, I’ve kicked around the idea of doing something similar for the hunter class. Without further adieu, let’s get cracking.

Updgrades on the Cheap – For Those with No Patience

[Angelista's Revenge] – 60 Badges

Wow, what a good place to start on the cheap! If you’re not the type that can generate 50+ badges per week (and I am most certainly one of you!) this could be an excellent place to start if you want to upgrade NOW. There are many classes that could benefit from this ring, and the Hunter is certainly one of them. It has GREAT stats for a ring, and manages to take care of 2 of the big 3 for hunters. The AP is great as is the armor penetration. You’d be hard pressed to find a better ring, and at 60 badges it’s a steal. It even rivals the rep ring from Hyjal, [Band of the Eternal Champion].

[Gauntlets of Rapidity] – 75 Badges

Ok, if you can manage to hold yourself off of buying anything for 3 more heroic runs, you can get your mitts on these….mitts. Isn’t it nice that there is now loot comparable to T6 gear for us casual types? These most certainly are comparable to [Gronnstalker's Gloves]. If you pick these up over T6 here is the difference:

• -1 Agility (Nullified if you gem for the socket bonus)
• -1 Stamina
• -2 Intellect
• +3 Crit Rating
• +16 AP
• -140 Armor Ignore

Now, I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about Armor Ignore, but it seems like hardly a loss considering you don’t have to raid T6 content or roll against anyone for the token! These are a great pair of gloves and a nice investment for you impatient types.

For the More Patient

[Leggings of the Pursuit] – 100 Badges

Ok, now we’re into 100+ badge territory. (100 badges = 1 Kara clear/week+ 2 heroics a week X 4 weeks….not so bad!) Anyhow, about those legs. Are they worth the 100 badge investment? Let’s try to compare them to [Shifting Camouflage Pants], the “old” badge gear pants for hunters.

• +10 Agility
• -9 Stamina
• +15 Hit
• +14 AP
• -175 Armor Ignore

Again, we find ourselves looking at a loss of armor ignore. If you look at the many gains, however, these are certainly a nice upgrade. You’re going to lose some hitpoints, but gain overall AP, crit and some +hit. This can be VERY helpful if you’re getting into content beyond Kara. They are also comparable to [Bow-stitched Leggings], a drop from Mount Hyjal, which most casual hunters won’t get a crack at! They come for only 25 more badges than the old pants. (Too bad you can’t trade in your old ones like a car, eh? )I think these are a solid investment of 100 badges.

[Scaled Drakeskin Chestguard] – 100 Badges

In the case of this chestpiece, there really is no “old” badge gear mail chest for hunters. We could look at it in comparison to [Ebon Netherscale Breastplate], though that only applies for the leatherworkers out there. Maybe compare it to [Scaled Breastplate of Carnage]? IMO, this is a slam dunk upgrade over the chest from Kara. You’re losing some MP5 and some Int, but you also get a gem slot, and a boost of 69 attack power. I would call this one of the first upgrades you should look at, though I might hesitate if you already have your T4 chest, [Demon Stalker Harness]. I’d also make sure that the haste on this chest won’t interfere with an effective 1:1 shot rotation.

The Big Ticket Items

[Crossbow of Relentless Strikes] – 150 Badges

That’s a lot of badges. It’s also a lot of Crossbow! Do I really have to talk about this one? If you’re a BM hunter for sure, this is probably the best ranged weapon you can get short of the new legendary bow in Sunwell. It’s got +hit, +crit and AP, along with a nice, big DPS number. What else could a hunter want? The speed rating, coupled with some haste, will help you reach that 1.7 or so weapon speed for an optimal shot rotation. Score!

[The Blade of Harbingers] – 150 Badges

Where 150 badges is well spent on the crossbow, I’m not so sure about this axe. Sure, it’s a nice weapon, but after already blowing 150 badges (and don’t fool yourself, if you’re going to blow 150 badges, use them for the crossbow), I would be hard pressed to blow 150 more on a melee weapon. Still, it’s a strong axe, and the haste rating might help us get that new crossbow down to the speed we want. 150 badges, though? Just grab [Legacy] or something and live with it.

Conclusion

So, we’ve established that these are all VERY nice upgrades. Which should you buy first? Well, a lot of that depends on what you have now. If you have a decent pair of legs, maybe start with the chest, or vise versa. But, all things being equal, with a gun to my head I’d say go for the Crossbow first. It’s a huge upgrade over just about anything, and I’m usually a “weapon first” upgrader. There’s a good chance, however, that I’d crack part of the way through and pick up the gauntlets or the ring. If I could control myself, though, I’d start with the Crossbow, then grab either the ring or the legs. Any way you go with this stuff, though, you can’t go wrong!

Tune in later this week and I’ll take a look at the drops from Magisters’ Terrace. (Not the Sunwell, though – this is a CASUAL blog! )

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Gear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.